2011-08-16, 20:57
I have a home server on which I would also like to run XBMC as it's standing in the living room and I know the hardware is more than capable of playing any video I can throw at it.
First the (relevant) specs
Processor: Intel G840 (so Intel HD 2000 graphics)
Motherbord: Asrock H61M-GE
RAM: 4GB DDR3 dual channel
OS: Ubuntu Server 11.04 (Natty) x86_64
XBMC installation
I installed XBMC by partly following this tutorial:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=XBMCbuntu#In...nal_Ubuntu
The commands I executed were:
This resulted in XBMC auto-starting on boot (which is what I want), I assume it is XBMC-live that autoboots.
I installed no graphics drivers whatsoever, as I understood the drivers for Intel HD graphics are integrated in the Linux kernel and shouldn't be necessary. Also I did no Xorg configuration, because I wouldn't know what to configure and also the guides I found only do this for ATI or NVIDIA GPU's.
So, what is working now?
XBMC auto-starts and seems to work full screen and everything. Sound passthrough over optical (what I need to get the sound to my receiver) also works like a charm.
At first I also had problems with the screen tearing but I solved that by letting the GPU determine when to use vsync (as the always enable vsync didn't work!). So there is no problem either.
So, what is the problem?
Well, playback of video is choppy / laggy, name it whatever you want but I can't enjoy movies like this.
Also the general picture quality isn't that great, I tested with 1080p material and on my normal computer (also with XBMC, but on W7) the picture is very sharp, this is not the case on my home server.
In this example I play a 1080p x264 movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MM_PekXS50
Even though the general choppiness and unsharp picture isn't good visible because I recorded the TV screen I hope I can make clear what is it that's wrong with the picture.
So, what did I try?
I've done a lot of searching and I found a lot of threads saying XBMC on Linux with a sandy bridge is still experimental but can work absolutely great. Most are for the more advanced users and I often have no idea where to start or what's relevant for me because all I ever worked with were command line programs (like webservers) and I never did anything with Xorg at all.
Threads I found for example:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=86581 (Core i3 / i5 and i7, not specifically the G840 I have but those are also sandy bridge processors).
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=96669 (A thread about sandy bridge processors in general).
Also I messed around with all the settings in XBMC, some made matters worse but it never got any better (like enabling hardware acceleration and VDPAU). Also I tried several render methods.
My question?
Now, I just don't know where to look for the problem but I'm sure some people over here do. What is actually wrong, why is my playback so choppy and where do I look to fix it? If somebody can point me in the right direction so I can at least search with a clue I'll be forever grateful!
Btw, I would prefer (if that's possible at all) to just fix the playback in the current install of XBMC(-live) instead of installing or compiling a new XBMC install, but obviously if it's not possible, it's not possible.
First the (relevant) specs
Processor: Intel G840 (so Intel HD 2000 graphics)
Motherbord: Asrock H61M-GE
RAM: 4GB DDR3 dual channel
OS: Ubuntu Server 11.04 (Natty) x86_64
XBMC installation
I installed XBMC by partly following this tutorial:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=XBMCbuntu#In...nal_Ubuntu
The commands I executed were:
Code:
sudo apt-get install python-software-properties pkg-config
add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/ppa
apt-get update
edit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/team-xbmc-ppa-natty.list and change natty to maverick
apt-get update
apt-get install xbmc xorg
adduser xbmc --gecos XBMC
usermod --group adm,sudo,cdrom,floppy,audio,video,plugdev,netdev,powerdev,fuse,polkituser xbmc
apt-get install xbmc-liveI installed no graphics drivers whatsoever, as I understood the drivers for Intel HD graphics are integrated in the Linux kernel and shouldn't be necessary. Also I did no Xorg configuration, because I wouldn't know what to configure and also the guides I found only do this for ATI or NVIDIA GPU's.
So, what is working now?
XBMC auto-starts and seems to work full screen and everything. Sound passthrough over optical (what I need to get the sound to my receiver) also works like a charm.
At first I also had problems with the screen tearing but I solved that by letting the GPU determine when to use vsync (as the always enable vsync didn't work!). So there is no problem either.
So, what is the problem?
Well, playback of video is choppy / laggy, name it whatever you want but I can't enjoy movies like this.
Also the general picture quality isn't that great, I tested with 1080p material and on my normal computer (also with XBMC, but on W7) the picture is very sharp, this is not the case on my home server.
In this example I play a 1080p x264 movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MM_PekXS50
Even though the general choppiness and unsharp picture isn't good visible because I recorded the TV screen I hope I can make clear what is it that's wrong with the picture.
So, what did I try?
I've done a lot of searching and I found a lot of threads saying XBMC on Linux with a sandy bridge is still experimental but can work absolutely great. Most are for the more advanced users and I often have no idea where to start or what's relevant for me because all I ever worked with were command line programs (like webservers) and I never did anything with Xorg at all.
Threads I found for example:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=86581 (Core i3 / i5 and i7, not specifically the G840 I have but those are also sandy bridge processors).
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=96669 (A thread about sandy bridge processors in general).
Also I messed around with all the settings in XBMC, some made matters worse but it never got any better (like enabling hardware acceleration and VDPAU). Also I tried several render methods.
My question?
Now, I just don't know where to look for the problem but I'm sure some people over here do. What is actually wrong, why is my playback so choppy and where do I look to fix it? If somebody can point me in the right direction so I can at least search with a clue I'll be forever grateful!
Btw, I would prefer (if that's possible at all) to just fix the playback in the current install of XBMC(-live) instead of installing or compiling a new XBMC install, but obviously if it's not possible, it's not possible.